Redplaid Time: December 2006

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Ted Haggard, Sin and what to do about it

While we were working on the children's Christmas production I had an epiphany.

The idea for this year's play came from the kids. It starts with the kids wearing backpacks with the word SIN pinned to it. They slump across the stage, confess a sin into the mic and then fall in a lump somewhere on the stage. When they are done they are slumped all over the stage, weighed down by their sin. We are establishing a need for a Saviour. Then Jesus comes, provides the solution (this is the ultra condensed version) and, one by one, picks the kids up (they have shed their backpacks by now), they walk to the mic and say the opposite of whatever sin they confessed. So if she said "I stole." at the beginning, at the end she would say, " I give."

To decide what sins the children would say I had them write or draw a picture about what sins they had done. After discussion we decided that the sin the kids say should be real ones, sins they really had committed. We thought this would make it more real. When one boy refused to confess a sin in the mic, in front of everyone, it lead to a talk about how we don't need to be ashamed to confess our sins to each other. Not only are we all guilty of sin and, therefore, have no right to pass judgment on others who sin, Jesus told us to confess our sins to each other.

"LIGHT BULB!"

We don't confess our sins, one to another. Why? Because we don't want to be judge as being a bad Christian. We want everyone to think we are good Christians, we read our bible and pray everyday, we always tithe, we never gossip (we only talk about those that need prayer), we are perfect parents and good friends and do all we can to help the poor. ya.....

Maybe if we really did what Jesus told us to, confess, Ted Haggard would never have got so far into his sin. Maybe he could have received the prayer and support he needed when he was only thinking of doing drugs or sex outside his marriage. I don't know if my generation can be changed but maybe the one coming up can learn the benefit of confessing and create a healthier Church.

With that in mind, a couple of Sundays ago, I asked the kids if anyone wanted to confess a sin they had committed that week. Four did. We discussed what they did, what they could do differently, some confessed that they had done the same or similar things and then we prayed for each of them. It was a beautiful thing. BUT there was also a power in it. You could feel it. Like something shifted in the air, like a fog clearing. We will definitely do that again. I confessed a sin too, of course it was age appropriate, and I felt a release in doing it. There was a difference in me for doing it. I haven't done it since.

I think we started something very important.

Labels: children's ministry